As you can see by the final photo above, I removed the fuel tank from the machine. This involved removal of the cowl, and removal of the spark plug wire, which ruined the brittle plastic/rubber boot. I've since ordered a replacement, I'd say most Victa 18's these days wouldn't have a spark plug boot at all.

With the strap loosened from below, the tank came away from the cowl with ease. This then allowed me to remove the brass fuel tap, which was leaking when open, then allowing fuel to leak past when closed. A little penetrant and some gentle persuasion with a set of multi-grips, the tap cracked loose and was removed from the tank. It will be cleaned and rebuilt with new o-rings that come with the carb kit.

The only thing I'm unsure of is the fabric wick-style fuel filter on the end of the tap inlet. The wick is still in tact and seems to have cleaned up ok, but are these replaceable, or do I install an external inline filter?

The inside of the tank is pretty rusty. Before adding fuel to the tank to see if the engine would fire, I had rinsed it out with some fuel but clearly needed more. Someone suggested I try white vinegar and some stones to help dislodge any rust flakes. To keep the vinegar inside the tank and facilitate soaking, I used an old plastic fuel tap to plug where the brass tap was.

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After letting it soak, I felt I needed to step it up and decided to try another recommendation, CRC Evapo-Rust. I emptied out the vinegar and stones, rinsed with some carb spray, then dumped the whole bottle of Evapo-Rust into the tank to soak. I've never used this before, so I'm interested see how this plays out.

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From here, I'm waiting for parts to arrive.